do you ever sort of wish you had less toys?

[3 3/4"collector]

i started collecting toys in about 1990. in about 95 or 96 i decided there was just too much out there and i decided to only collect 3 3/4 scale and got rid of all my other stuff. in 98 me and my old girlfriend got an apartment together and i had 2 boards that were 4'x3' in a corner of the livingroom so it was 8' by 3'. i had the 2 boards sitting on top of some old boxes. me and the girlfriend made a little city up there with cardboard buildings and had all my figures set up. there were little apartments and alleys and everything. it was filled with little sight gags and personal jokes, there were a couple figures and little things we would always change around when the other was gone to see how long before they noticed it. it was just alot of fun.

but now 11 years later i just sit around alot of the time frustrated because of all the toys i dont have room to put out. and kind of annoyed that every corner of my place has toys on display or stored boxes of toys stacked up. its all just so cluttered and unorderly and just overwhelming. i cant do funny little displays and dioramas anymore, because the more room i spendon a diorama the more figures i have to choose to store in a box in the corner in the way.

with all the new star wars and gijoe and indiana jones and ultimate soldier and so on of the 2000s the collection has easilly tripled from what it was then.

theres no play anymore just display. and i often find myself missing that old 8' by 3' display with all the humour and fun scattered through it.

[foxmorganm]

I totally agree about your situation... I have way too much stuff! So, I am finally doing something about it and totally downsizing and getting rid of stuff. I actually feel a whole lot better! I wanted to trade for the few items that I want for my collection, but after not getting many takers or people having what I am looking for... I just decided to start getting rid of it again on ebay. At least I know it will go to someone who appreciates it... and if it doesn't sell... I am taking it to a thrift store.

I am reducing my toys mainly to stuff that I grew up with, but also characters I have liked over the years. For example, I really like Transformers Classics Hound, instead of the original version which I felt really wasn't that articulated/poseable. This way I will actually be able to enjoy the toys I have... and be able to display my collection.

AND, I am actually going for the exact toys I want... completing my collections and getting those toys that have escaped me over the years... But as many of you have said... "we can't have em all".

Regarding downsizing, I can't explain the feeling, but it is like a weight off my shoulders for having to be the keeper of so much stuff. I want to enjoy my collection again, not have it be a burden.

I am curious if others are purging? Thanks for starting this post...

[3 3/4"collector]

there are lots of things im planning to get rid of but i never get to it.

[foxmorganm]

Yeah 3 3/4"... I had to make are a real effort to downsize... if not I start thinking about it, and pretty soon don't wish to part with anything... To help this, i will pull out a particular toy line/theme and go through it making a list of wanted items and see what I have and if I need anything to complete as well as then assess what I want to part with... if I have doubles/triples of interested in reducing from that line/theme. So far this has been helpful with me being focused on my Transformers and robots in reducing and obtaining specific items... up next I am gonna continue tackling my GI joe line... wish me luck!

[spankweasel]

I wish you all had less toys, so that I may get them all !!!
Hail COBRA!!!!

[foxmorganm]

Hahhaha... good one! COBRA!!!!!

[shaxper]

I regularly weed my collection. When it gets too big, everything feels cluttered and less special. In a smaller collection, each piece stands out more proudly. My wife has left me a rather generously sized attic room for storing and displaying all of my toys. When those shelves start to get cluttered, I know I've gone too far. I ask myself what I can live without, and I get rid of it. There are some toys that you never ever ever pull of the shelf, and there are others that you'd easily miss in a year, and collectibility/value rarely has anything to do with it.

I've sold my Diaclone Great Robot Base and Transformers Fortress Maximus because one made me nervous to touch and the other was just too overwhelmingly large to be much fun to play with. I still wonder if I'm crazy for doing so, but I sold them both and rarely miss either. In contrast, I could never part with my Power Rangers Astro Megazord DX. It's a cheap, easily replaceable item, but it's damn fun, and I play with it often as a result.

[soundwave]

I have a pretty large toy room and it used to be all my toys on display but the addiction has got me!!! the room is now full of huge rubbermaid containers and i am looking to get more space not less toys and I am with spankweasel on this one!

[slm2024]

i love clutter and toy clostaphobia (and i know that is spelled wrong).
bring on the toys!!!!

[pcofmisfittoys]

There's no way I could set up my entire collection . I started collecting toys in 1977 or 78 when I got the SW early bird set for Christmas. I bought ( or parents bought) any and everything SW from then through jedi. then I still collected toys. Fast forward to graduation of college and I started managing a local Toys RUs , so I got all kinds of displays from anything I could.
The bad thing about all that is that in retail management I would move ever few years. I ended up putting most if not all of my collection in three storage units and it's been nice ever since. I display some at my house now but I'm not into showing off everything. I still collect and havea passion for toys from 1978 to 1985 , so I'm a collectorholic

[3 3/4"collector]

yeah i mean years ago i made a bunch of rules for myself. mainly that i only collect 3 3/4 and o got rid of everything else. a big part of that was for room. and much to my suprise i still have way more stuff now than i can currently display. alot of it has to do with modern star wars and now gijoe and even the marvel figures. they are all coming out like crazy now. at the time i started collecting only 3 3/4 it was before star wars had even come back and that scale was pretty much dead so it was just hunting down smaller older lines.

[krustybart]

MAN i had so many toys at one point that i had to put most of it in plastic totes and rented a 12x12 storage room and packed it from floor to ceiling.I finally had to sell off everything for the need of cash but i did keep my 12" G.I.JOES and SIMPSONS.